Freshman Flynn leads Syracuse past Siena

Nov 13, 2007 - 5:00 AM
SYRACUSE, New York (Ticker) -- After missing the NCAA
Tournament for the first time in four seasons, hot-shooting
freshman Jonny Flynn helped Syracuse begin the new campaign on
the right foot.

A Big East preseason co-Freshman of the Year, Flynn scored 28
points on 10-of-13 shooting and added nine assists as No. 25
Syracuse posted a 97-89 victory over Siena in the first round of
the Preseason NIT tournament on Monday.

"I do what I can do to help my team out," Flynn said. "I went
to the bench one time in the second half and Coach (Jim) Boeheim
told me to go back to the high school days and just score. I
credit him for lighting that fire under me to go out and score
some points."

Junior Eric Devendorf had 19 points and sophomore Paul Harris
added 14 points and 15 rebounds for Syracuse, which will play
Saint Joseph's in the second round on Tuesday. The Hawks
defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 86-66, on Monday.

Flynn made 6-of-7 shots from the arc and his 28 points also
broke the school record for scoring by a freshman in his debut,
which was previously set by Carmelo Anthony (27) in November
2002.

"We're just trying to win games here," Flynn said. "Regardless
of whether I score five points or 20 points, as long as we win,
I'm satisfied."

The Orange made 16 of their first 21 shots and were 8-of-13 from
the arc in the first half en route to taking a 14-point lead at
the break.

However, Siena (0-2) opened the second half on a 12-2 run to
close the gap to 55-51 with 16:45 to play.

With the Orange leading, 69-65, midway through the second half,
Flynn hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to expand
the Syracuse lead to nine with 8:44 to play.

"Jonny played extremely well, but it's hard to be happy about
what we did on offense when the defense was so bad," Boeheim
said.

The Saints cut the deficit back down to four with just over
three minutes to play, but could not get any closer.

Kenny Hasbrouck scored a career-high 24 points to lead the
Saints, who dropped to 0-8 all-time against Syracuse.

"I think Siena is one of the more difficult teams we are going
to have to play," Boeheim said. "They have a lot of guys that
can shoot, they really push the ball, and they are quick. I
don't think offense is a problem. We scored 97 points, but we
turned it over 23 times."